“The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.”
Isaiah 57:1
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8, 9An amazing young man in Kansas City died last year, after being severely injured in a terrible car accident.
The prayers of thousands for his healing were going up to the heavens for 2 days as he lay in critical condition.
He loved the Lord with all his heart and he loved others well. He was actively involved in ministry, both locally and internationally. He was a true worshipper, betrothed to a woman he loved, his whole life was before him;
but the Father who had ordered his steps and the numbers of his days decided it was his time.
Why?
When the good, the righteous, the beloved are taken from among us, especially when it happens suddenly without warning, those who are left behind, find themselves struggling for answers to the unanswerable.
When the good, the righteous, the beloved are taken from among us, especially when it happens suddenly without warning, those who are left behind, find themselves struggling for answers to the unanswerable.
Why, God?
It is in this place, when there are no more tears left, when we are too exhausted to cry any longer, when finally quiet and stillness finds us; falling into our Abba’s comforting arms we realize, that we are just the clay, and we must trust in this great truth: Father knows best.
We can’t not lean on our inadequate, shallow understanding.
Let us petition our Father to help us to see things from a heavenly perspective: “No eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him.
1 Corinthians 2:9“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:24, 25
It is in this place, when there are no more tears left, when we are too exhausted to cry any longer, when finally quiet and stillness finds us; falling into our Abba’s comforting arms we realize, that we are just the clay, and we must trust in this great truth: Father knows best.
We can’t not lean on our inadequate, shallow understanding.
Let us petition our Father to help us to see things from a heavenly perspective: “No eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him.
1 Corinthians 2:9“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:24, 25
No mind can conceive what glory awaits us, but for those of us who have been caught up into heaven, who have been granted a brief glimpse, we have been rendered homesick and lovesick. Everyday that passes here is a day closer to our homecoming. Death has no sting; it becomes a way-point, like changing planes at an airport.
So remember, beloved, Father knows best.
*The above is a reblog from a 2012 post of mine as I contemplated the passing of a brother, which I now felt was again appropriate as I work through the emotions of another homecoming .